Nebraska Governor Race 2026: Pillen vs. Walz

Gov. Jim Pillen (R) is seeking a second term against former state Sen. Lynne Walz (D), and the race has tightened enough that the Cook Political Report moved it to Likely Republican on October 13, matching Sabato's Crystal Ball, which made the same move in late September. Two minor-party tickets are also on the ballot: former state Sen. Brett Lindstrom (America First), who left the Republican Party in early 2026, is running with Navy veteran Mike Picard, and Rick Beard (Legal Marijuana Now) is running with Omaha Housing Authority commissioner Keenya "Ruby" Barnes. Lindstrom has raised little (about $28,000 from mid-June through September 29, much of it his own in-kind money), yet he still draws from Pillen's base: the National Public Affairs survey found Pillen taking 73 percent of registered Republicans and Lindstrom 9 percent. The same survey gave Pillen the weakest favorability of anyone it tested. He is also campaigning under a Lincoln Police investigation of a $2.5 million no-bid contract his economic development department awarded to a contractor he recommended, which the state auditor said may have shown favoritism; Pillen says his office had nothing to do with it, and he is declining to debate.

Walz is running on the budget: she describes a swing from a $1.2 billion surplus to a $750 million deficit on Pillen's watch, and pledges a first-day executive order legalizing medical marijuana, an independent audit of state government, and tax relief "for everyone, not just the wealthiest individuals and corporations." Pillen calls that platform "political hogwash" and sums up his own agenda as "kids, taxes, agriculture, values": he would close the budget gap with agency cuts rather than reversing income tax cuts, expand school vouchers, and end Nebraska's split electoral vote. Both have courted conservatives: the NRA backed Pillen, while three former state senators appeared for Walz. Walz's running mate is Humboldt farmer Ben Steffen. Pillen holds a wide money edge, with $7.5 million on hand to Walz's roughly $860,000 as of September 29, after raising about $12.7 million for the cycle to her $3.8 million.

For Nebraska policy, the one-house Legislature matters as much as the governor's race. Republicans hold 33 of its 49 seats, clear of the 30 needed to override a veto, so whether Pillen delivers on the property tax fight that has consumed his first term, or whether a Governor Walz could block anything, depends on the legislative races on the same ballot.